Crossing the $5 million mark at the box-office recently and hopefully more success to come as it expands even further to 1,655 theaters this weekend, It Follows is sure to be on the break-out independent hits of the year. While we’ve gone into an in-depth spoiler-filled discussion of the horror feature and even spoke to director David Robert Mitchell, there’s still more to dive into, particularly regarding that ending. In a rarity, the helmer has actually opened up about his decisions in crafting the third act, so spoilers below as we highlight some of his thoughts.
In the third act as Jay attempts to rid herself from the curse, the group comes up with a plan to electrocute it in a local pool. “It’s the stupidest plan ever!,” Mitchell tells Vulture with a laugh. “It’s a kid-movie plan, it’s something that Scooby-Doo and the gang might think of, and that was sort of the point. What would you do if you were confronted by a monster and found yourself trapped within a nightmare? Ultimately, you have to resort to some way of fighting it that’s accessible to you in the physical world, and that’s not really going to cut it. We kind of avoid any kind of traditional setup for that sequence, because in more traditional horror films, there might be a clue that would lead them to figure out a way to destroy this monster. I intentionally avoided placing those. Instead, they do their best to accomplish something, and we witness its failure. It’s probably a very non-conventional way of approaching the third-act confrontation, but we thought it was a fun way to deal with it.”
As for the final scene, in which we find Jay and Paul walking down the street, holding hands, a figure appears behind them, but with a cut to black, Mitchell keeps us guessing. “We had a couple variations on it — I think we had some where he was really far back, and then some where no one would ever miss him — but we settled on the one where he’s there, but not too close,” he says. “It allows people to make up their own mind of what it means.” While some might be frustrated at the ambiguity, I’d say it adds to the unsettling factor that lingers long after you’ve left the theater. For more on the ending, and the film in general, listen to our discussion below and let us know your thoughts int he comments.
It Follows expands this weekend.